Immeuble à appartements de la COO, Jan Van Rijswijcklaan 284-290 — Anvers

Apartment building in the Art Deco style erected for the Public Assistance Commission (COO) of Antwerp at the fork of Jan Van Rijswijcklaan and Jan De Voslei, after a 1926 design by a temporary collective formed by Florent Vaes and the practice of Alfred Portielje and Jan De Braey, assisted by the Brussels architect Louis Herman De Koninck; André Fivez, a city architect, was also involved. The contractor Van Riel & Van den Bergh built its reinforced-concrete structure (Hennebique system) and completed it in 1928; De Koninck fixed the stone facing to the concrete by dovetail grooves rather than metal anchors, and designed the ironwork. The inventory characterises the building by a streamlined, matter-of-fact design ("gestroomlijnde zakelijke vormgeving") with Art Deco detailing: three wings in a U around a courtyard, five storeys over a basement, a taller central section stepping down to the wings, corner lesenes with a chevron profile, two-sided bay windows in the centre and paired semicircular bay windows on the wings. The ground floor is faced with stone and the upper floors combine red brick and stone; the wrought-iron doors, cellar grilles and balustrades combine orthogonal geometry with spirals. The steel windows were replaced in aluminium, without glazing bars, during the 2005 renovation that turned the complex into service flats and the OCMW service centre "Liberty". It is recorded in the Flemish architectural heritage inventory.

Translated from the French original.